Beginning with version 7.37, participating Citadel systems now support login via OpenID. OpenID is an emerging standard for “single sign on” for the Web. If you have an OpenID then you can use it to sign on to any OpenID-enabled web site. Learn more by reading this introduction.

Citadel is not an OpenID “identity provider.” It is merely a “relying party” – in other words, participating Citadel sites are among those which you can log in to using your OpenID.

Creating a new user account on an OpenID-enabled Citadel site is dead easy. Simply click on the link labelled ”Log in using OpenID” and enter your OpenID in the box. If your OpenID provider is capable of supplying your registration preferences, such as your desired nickname, a Citadel account is instantly created and you will be logged in.

If your desired nickname is not supplied or is already in use, you will be prompted for the user name you wish to use on this Citadel site.

The next time you log in, instead of entering a username and password, you can simply click the link labelled ”Log in using OpenID” and enter your OpenID in the box. You will be logged in right away, and you won't have to remember a user name, password, or anything else.

If you already have an account on your favorite Citadel system, you can attach your OpenID to that account. Simply log in with your user name and password, and then select “Advanced” followed by “Manage your OpenIDs.” From this screen, you can add as many OpenIDs as you wish. As you add them, you will be passed through your OpenID provider's site to verify that the OpenID is yours.

The next time you log in, instead of entering your username and password, you can simply click the link labelled ”Log in using OpenID” and enter your OpenID in the box. That's all there is to it!

Even though you're logging in with OpenID, you'll still have a user name and password. After all, your user name is how people recognize you on a Citadel system. Your password will be automatically generated, and if you always log in using a web browser, then you'll never need to know it, since you're logging in with OpenID.

If, however, you plan on making use of Citadel resources through anything other than a web browser – for example, with the text mode client, or email via SMTP/POP/IMAP, or instant messaging using a Jabber client such as Pidgin – then you will of course need to set a password. Select “Advanced” followed by “Change your password.” You can set any password you like, which you can then use for logging in via facilities other than a web browser.

Don't worry, you'll still be able to log in using your OpenID when you're using Citadel through a web browser.

Citadel uses OpenID 2.0 protocol. If your OpenID provider only supports OpenID 1.1 (which is now extremely rare) you will not be able to use it with Citadel.

“i-names” do not work, either. We do not expect this to be a problem for the time being, though, because almost no one is interested in i-names. Nearly all of the takeup of OpenID to date has been using URL-based ID's.